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Sweep 22 Sep 2026 · 17:19Z Build v2.1.280 501 read Stable v2.1.267 Latest v2.1.280 Next v2.1.280 Feeds RSS JSON llms.txt Unofficial
Claude Code v2.1.273 ·

MCP server allowlist policy can now be inherited from lower-priority admin settings, with a warning when it's shadowed

Claude Code now looks across all managed settings sources for MCP allowlist/lock policy and warns admins when a lower-priority source is being ignored

TierYou'll noticehow much it should matter to you
Useful2my rating, 1 to 5
Signal2worth watching, 1 to 5
AreaMCPwhat it touches
KindImprovementsin v2.1.273,
Group of 3 You'll notice

Claude Code now looks across all managed settings sources for MCP allowlist/lock policy and warns admins when a lower-priority source is being ignored

What

Organizations can control which MCP (Model Context Protocol) servers Claude Code is allowed to use through settings like allowManagedMcpServersOnly and allowedMcpServers. Previously these were read from a single merged settings object. Now:

  • Claude Code computes these values by combining the highest-priority settings source (the "slot") with the list of admin policy tiers, so a policy set only in a lower-priority admin settings source can still take effect even if there's no explicit override in the higher-priority one.
  • If the top-priority settings slot doesn't explicitly set allowManagedMcpServersOnly to false, Claude Code now falls back to an allowlist derived from the admin tiers rather than ignoring it.
  • A new startup warning lists any MCP-related policy keys that are set in a lower-precedence managed settings source and are therefore not being applied, and points admins to the /status command to see which keys are affected.

Why

Before this change, an MCP allowlist or lock configured only in a lower-priority admin settings file could be silently ignored if it wasn't also set at the top level, leaving organizations less protected than intended. Now the policy is inherited correctly, and when a setting is still being shadowed by a higher-priority source, admins get a clear warning instead of a silent gap.

Read from
Names in the bundleallowManagedMcpServersOnlyallowedMcpServers
Since it was published

The entry above is what we published on the day. These lines were added later, as Anthropic's own pages caught up, and they sit beside the original rather than replacing it.

Confirmed since Anthropic's documentation has since written up allowManagedMcpServersOnly, on Claude apps gateway for Amazon Bedrock, Claude Platform on AWS, Google Cloud, and Microsoft Foundry. * **`allowedMcpServers`**: Claude Code honors a parent-supplied allowlist when no admin list is in force. `allowManagedMcpServersOnly` doesn't block it, because the lock enforces whichever list wins as the managed value, including a parent… claude-apps-gateway see the edit
Confirmed since Anthropic's documentation has since written up allowedMcpServers, on Claude apps gateway for Amazon Bedrock, Claude Platform on AWS, Google Cloud, and Microsoft Foundry. From an admin source below the winner, the two sandbox locks still apply, and `allowManagedPermissionRulesOnly` still blocks parent-supplied allow rules and `additionalDirectories`. On Claude Code v2.1.273 or later, the MCP server lock als… claude-apps-gateway see the edit
How sure we are
Two sources agreeTwo things we can check say the same as this entry.
Anthropic's documentation agreesAnthropic's documentation has since written up allowedMcpServers, on Claude apps gateway for Amazon Bedrock, Claude Platform on AWS, Google…
Anthropic's release notes agreeFixed allowManagedMcpServersOnly, deniedMcpServers and disableClaudeAiConnectors set via MDM or managed-settings.json being ignored when…

See this entry in the whole of v2.1.273 →

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